Elisabeth Hasselbeck Exiting The View for Fox and Friends Gig -- Who Should Replace Her?

The show’s resident conservative panelist Elisabeth Hasselbeck, who began her broadcast career as a contestant on Survivor, will exit Barbara Walters’ ABC chat-fest after Wednesday’s installment to begin a gig as host of Fox and Friends. The news was broken by The New York Post.

Hasselbeck’s Fox News stint will put her alongside current cohosts Steve Doocy and Brian Kilmeade. Gretchen Carlson, meanwhile, will shift from the panel to host a one-hour daytime program.

“Elisabeth’s warm and engaging personality made her a star on The View,” Fox News Chairman & CEO Roger Ailes told The Post. “She has proven to be an excellent conversationalist and I am certain she will make a great addition to our already successful morning franchise.”

Walters weighed in on her cohost’s exit, too. “When Elisabeth survived Survivor we wanted to make sure she would stay afloat,” she said in a statement. “We have had 10 wonderful years with her and she will now be swimming in new waters. We will miss her and wish her everything good.”

ABC also issued a statement: “For a decade, Elisabeth Hasselbeck has brought her passion and strong beliefs to The View. We watched her journey from newlywed to motherhood, an Emmy Award-winning talk show host, author, entrepreneur and activist. She stood behind her political views even if they were not the most popular opinions at the table, never shying away from voicing a difficult question. We thank Elisabeth and wish her luck as she begins this new chapter of her career.”

Rumors have circulated in recent weeks that Brooke Shields and Jenny McCarthy might fill the vacancies left by Behar and Hasselbeck, who’d been widely expected to fly the coop despite Walters denying departure buzz a few months ago.

What do you think of Hasselbeck’s departure? Will you miss her on The View? Will you follow her to Fox and Friends? And who should be her replacement? Take our poll below, then expand on your thoughts in the comments!

Haha. Tons of shockers. She has barely been on this summer, and when she is on she has been very mellow. She’s probably trying not to rock the boat, and mess up her new contract. My guess is that The View is narrowing in on their choice to replace her and Behar, so it is time to announce. At least now when I watch(when I DVR the show) I don’t have to use my fast forward button as much.

I feel the same way. I can’t say how many times I changed the channel when she would start going off on something and her would get really strident . It basically got to the point I completely stopped watching the View because of her.

yep now they can just re name it. The Liberal View. it’s gonna be boring with robots who think exactly the same I say the show goes off the air in a couple years. no one wants to hear the same thing over and over patting each other on the back total agreement all the time what will they blabber about? there will be no discussion. one will say blah blah blah then you will hear. yes. I agree and you go girl! Boooooooorrrrrrinnng! blah blah blah

Agree. The other women quickly get into nasty smackdown mode whenever anyone’s on who isn’t 100 percent liberal. It gets monotonous. Never liked Hasselbeck that much because so many other conservative-leaning women are so much smarter and more articulate … but at least she offered a slightly different “view.”

If anythiing, they let Hasslebeck dominate conversations TOO MUCH in order to give the appearance that they let differing views be voiced. She constantly talked over guests and the other hosts in her shrill voice. She rarely provided cogent arguments and just parroted conservative talking points heard ad nauseum elsewhere.

To you and everyone who’s been saying you can watch The View again – was it that bad that there was one person who wasn’t in lockstep with everyone else’s viewpoint? It’s always been blatantly obvious that Whoopi, Joy, etc. were way to the left of center, so why was it so incredibly painful to have one person who leaned right? And let’s face it, when four people are talking over one person you have to be loud to be heard. What are you going to do if, say, Sarah Palin takes a slot on the show?

I never had a problem with her politics. Everyone is entitled to their beliefs and a little variety is a good thing. The problem was her loud, shrill, non-sensical arguments. She couldn’t back up anything she said with intellect, she was just emotion and volume.

The reason you saw it that was is because you disagree with her. Are you going to tell me that you think Joy is quiet and respectful and intelligent? LOL! You obviously agree with the ultra liberal point of view, so you did not notice howJoy and Whoopi (more than any of the others) tend to be when arguing a point. I agree with others that Elizabeth often had no choice but to yell over the others to be heard. You don’t think she has intelligent arguments to offer simply because you disagree with her.

Wow, CAM. Assume much? I said nothing about my likes and dislikes, nor about the others on the program. I welcome a varying point of view because the others can seem too homogeneous. I simply did not care for Elisabeth’s arguments and delivery. Period. Now before you rant on, step back and take a deep breath and try not to tell other people what they think and feel.

In the meantime, it would be good if The View could present a variety of viewpoints without one or more of them sounding like a shrill harpy. Unfortunately, that’s what Elisabeth sounded like to me.

LOL, it wasn’t that I disagreed with her(even tho I did on many things) she never had a valid, intelligent response to any of her remarks/views. She was shrill, rude and obnoxious when no one agreed with her. That’s why I stopped watching.

While everyone is entitled to their political beliefs, her views are so ridiculously to the right, without any sense to back them up. She’s landed in the only place she truly belongs, if she’s going to be talking politics to anyone for any reason.

That’s not true. If you actually watched the show, you’d know she has gone after Trump for his ridiculous Obama birth certificate embarrassment, she supports same-sex marriage, and she has even complimented President Obama when she thought he deserved it. She was not a Fox News parrot on The View.

This is great news. I like Elizabeth but can not stand watching The View. Between Joy and Whoopi it is ridiculous how little tolerance they show for anyone that does not agree with their views and how they fawn over those they agree with, regardless of how outlandish, ridiculous or unfounded their position may be. I guess they are not interested in having a balanced discussion or representation. I will have to DVR Fox and Friends now…

While I don’t always agree with her (I can say the same for each of them) at least she has a different view – which is what the show was supposed to be about. I personally don’t know how anyone could work with Walters considering how she cuts them off, frequently stops them mid sentence to say “that’s not the point” or won’t let someone finish a thought if it goes against what she wants to say.

Unconfirmed reports. They were likely true (or, likelier, they lowballed her and Joy in contract talks), but still, they were all unconfirmed reports. The problem these days is that nobody seems to know the difference. It’s more fun to believe what you want to believe.

I think the point JON was making is that your comment makes no sense. Part of the pointing of posting comments should be that other people can understand what you’re trying to say. Your comment looks like something you pieced together from a magnetic poetry board.

I get that her role there was to fill the conservative viewpoint, so I hope her replacement will actually have facts, an education and conversation/debating skills to state such opinions without making this hypothetical person look like a moron. Do conservatives like that exist??

They’ve had Rachel Campos Duffy on the show to guest host a few times lately. I think she would fit that bill, but I doubt she’d move to NYC with her 6 kids. Plus her husband is a congressman for Wisconsin so he has to live there.

So Sherri, Whoopi and Joy fit that description? Facts are very rare on this show no matter who is speaking. Sherri is totally uneducated and has no conversational skills whatsoever. Sherri didn’t know if the world was flat and stated she didn’t believe in evolution “period”!! So, you’re demanding requirements of someone with a conservative point of view that don’t exist on the other side of the panel.

Elisabeth has a degree from Boston College. Her biggest fights took place with Rosie….another uneducated woman who reacted based purely on emotion, with no facts. It is her point of view people have objected to and that’s really sad. I remember the days when we could actually have a discussion in this country with BOTH sides represented. From what I’ve read The View’s going to be less political…that’s one way to handle the fact that they will have a panel with one point of view. What a farce!

For the record, I hate Sherri too. I don’t care about what someone’s views are as long as they are somewhat intelligent and well informed. Joy and Whoopi can be “meh” on that point sometimes but they are much better than elisabeth and sherri. As far as Hasslbeck is concerned, I never thought she belonged on television due to her shrill voice that would make my college voice teacher cringe. She ;doesn’t have enough other credentials/ positive attributes to make me overlook the fact that the very sound of her prepubescent voice made me want to grind nails in my ears.

That’s really too bad; I’m so left wing I’m practically a communist, but she brought a great energy to the show. And while I disagreed with her a lot, sometimes I didn’t and she actually has some really good points about stuff.
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Plus she’s changed so much over the years, I worry her going to FOX will undermine any work she’s done

I hardly agree with Elisabeth, (by hardly, I mean never.), but I loved that she provided a different view, which the show is supposed to be about. I mean, we would never have that split screen with Rosie if not for her right wing beliefs. I still Youtube that episode and I love it!!!! “Poor little Elisabeth”… I love that episode!!!

I wonder now if Joy and Elisabeth’s removal were the show’s decision or their own. Seems like The View is getting worried of The Talk and want to revamp the show and turn it into a nicey chatfest among girls and no more arguing.

I love Megan McCain. She’d fill both the conservative and younger void left by Elisabeth and I think her liberal social views would be well received, but she is working on her own show that launches on a new network called Pivot in August. She’s guest hosted so many times that I feel like she’d be a shoo-in if she was available.

Good for Crystal the Monkey! She is a real talent – she was on Survivor 2, swinging from tree to tree in Australia that season when she was known as ‘Sylvia the Monkey’. She headlined her own cable fashion series for a time – very successful. Yes, she did have some problems on her next series, falling into the habit of throwing her excrement at the audience whenever she disagreed with them. But that’s all in the past now – Crystal apologized, went to rehab, and learned from her mistakes.

Now, Crystal is tan, rested and ready, and we welcome Crystal joining the ABC team. A clothing line and book [perhaps about bananas] is surely in her future. Crystal wants to thank all the fine people who helped make her rise in television a success.

The View was interesting when it first started. It was about five women of different generations voicing their opinions about what was going on in the world and hot topics. It was fresh, fun and entertaining and Meredith made a great moderator who kept it on track. Around the tail end of the Bush administration it morphed into a wanna be political format with Rosie and Joy leading the Bush bashing with Elizabeth giving as good as she got. The last six years has been like watching state run television with the Obamafest that is going on. While Elizabeth has had her inarticulate moments, as have all the others, she isn’t reading from the same script as the rest and that cannot be tolerated on this show.

It wouldn’t be much of a talk show if everyone shared the same point of view. I do not share Elizabeth’s politics, but she has been much more respectful towards this administration than Joy ever was towards Bush. I like Elizabeth and will miss what she brings to the table (especially her work with team RWB). But I refuse to watch Fox, so I guess today will be it for me. I wish her luck.

Please NOT Ann Coultner Nor Sarah Palin NOR Michele Bachman. Too closed minded for a non-political talk show IMHO. Of the choices noted, I say Jenny McCarthy. She’s a lot more well-spoken vs her perceived public persona, especially as a parent of a child who is autistic. She also can be funny.